*peeks around the corner* Hey guys... Sorry for the long wait. *ducks to dodge a blue hairbrush*
All jokes aside, I am very sorry about the long wait for an update (about 5 months, wow). Life was very busy (I'm graduating high school yay!) but I've also been struggling with this story in particular. I lost my motivation for a while and picked up a few other projects which I will wait to finish before publishing. However, I will see this story through! I'm very hyped to write the sequel for which I have a document full of notes so it should be nice and planned out by the time I publish it. I have read all of your comments and love them all, as usual. I really appreciate the feedback (no one I know reads this, to my knowledge, so it's nice to see how invested you guys are in this story). As an apology for the long wait, this chapter is longer than usual (over 5k words).
To make sure this doesn't happen again (or that I at least update regularly during my summer vacation) I will tie myself down to one update per week! Ignoring today, I'll update every Tuesday.
Now... let's get into it, shall we?
"Okay, so here's the plan."
Annabeth raised her voice a little to be heard clearly over the lilting Lofi hip-hop music flowing out of Leo's speakers and filling the room.
Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing a navy blue sports bra and ash gray leggings. She was currently kneeling on a mat, bent backward with her chest facing the ceiling, arms straight underneath her, and her head tilted back to form the camel pose. Flicking her eyes up, she caught Thalia and Piper's gazes from across the dance studio.
After school, Annabeth decided to drag Thalia along to Piper's dance practice so she could tell both of them her plan in one go. Three times a week, Piper met up with the hip-hop dance group she'd started a year ago called the Argo II. It began with just Piper and Leo (hence the II) as a dancer and DJ duo until more people joined the group.
While neither Thalia nor Annabeth were dancers themselves, they liked to occasionally hang out and exercise, or do yoga in Annabeth's case, at the dance studio Piper rented out each week. At the moment, the group—bar Leo who was setting up a playlist—was completing some warm-up stretches.
Once Annabeth was sure her friends were listening, she told them the plan randomly inspired by that guy after he gave her his number.
"We'll get everyone we know from our Physics class to write me a note—you know, like how they do for birthday cards?—except they all know my birthday is during the summer so we can't say that…" She trailed off, thinking about another excuse that could work. "I guess we can tell them it's a get well soon card or my dog is sick—"
"—But you don't have a dog," Piper interjected with a confused frown from her place at the barre. She was wearing an outfit similar to Annabeth's but with an added maroon cropped hoodie, and was currently holding her right leg up against the pole in a graceful arabesque (she had switched focus from ballet to hip-hop her sophomore year).
"Yeah," Annabeth conceded, "but they don't know that." Annabeth then eased herself out of the camel pose and got to her feet. It would be easier to hold a conversation while doing simple yoga poses so she formed some basic lunge positions, starting with Warrior I. She straightened up, squaring her hips, and reached for the sky to complete the pose, and then continued to explain her plan while going through the rest of the positions.
"So we could tell them something like that"—she took a deep breath, exhaled, then transitioned into Warrior II—"and then we could analyze everyone's handwriting to see which one matches the secret admirer."
Thalia grunted (in what Annabeth assumed was agreement) from her place on the floor. She was also on the other side of the room across from Annabeth but, instead of yoga, she was doing some sit-ups. She didn't play any particular sport, but she liked to stay in shape (had to keep up with Jason, the health nut) so Thalia often tagged along to these dance practices even more than Annabeth.
In contrast to Annabeth and Piper, she was wearing a black y-back tank top and mesh shorts.
"Okay. That could work, except"—Thalia panted as she finished her rep and took a swig from her nearly depleted water bottle—"we don't know what his handwriting is like. All of his letters thus far have been typed."
Annabeth pointed over at her, reaching a little farther back than was strictly necessary as she completed the Peaceful Warrior. "Yes, I was getting to that." She took a deep breath and exhaled as she eased out of that pose and moved into a low, right lunge, skipping Warrior III for the day. She had good balance, but Annabeth could not hold a relatively serious conversation like that without falling over.
"I was thinking that it's about time that I, uh, that I wrote him back. At least to let him know that I'm getting his letters."
It went unsaid that she would also be showing her own interest in her secret admirer by doing so, and honestly… Annabeth had been considering this since the second letter. She truly thought that it was time she wrote back. It was clear that the guy wasn't stopping anytime soon, and he seemed earnest enough. Showing some interest on her part couldn't hurt. And yes, she could admit that she was at least a little interested in this guy. It felt good to be admired, to be liked by someone, even though the attention wasn't coming from the person she admired herself.
Her statement made Thalia pause in her sit-ups—her interest officially peaked—and turn to look over at Annabeth with a look of pleasant surprise on her face. With raised eyebrows and pursed lips that hid a smug smile, she appraised Annabeth.
"Finally going to write back, huh?" Annabeth could hear the smirk in her voice. "I thought you didn't like the guy."
Annabeth was glad she had been doing yoga for a while now so she could blame her blush on physical exertion. She kept her eyes on the floor while she answered.
"I don't—not how he likes me, anyway—but I could write an… appreciative letter without leading him on. Then I can ask him to start handwriting them to be more romantic or something."
A new voice interjected from Annabeth's right.
"It's a feasible plan, but wasn't the whole reason he typed the letters so that the writing couldn't be traced back?"
Annabeth glanced at the girl beside her, her name was Reyna, and she rose out of her lunge then sat on the mat before folding her right leg to form the pigeon pose. The other girl seemed to be intently pondering over the situation, pursing her lips in consideration as she sat in the butterfly pose on her own yoga mat.
"Alright," Annabeth replied as she absent-mindedly pulled her leg closer to her body and straightened her posture. "That's a fair point."
Reyna was another girl in the dance group that Annabeth had gotten closer to since she started stopping by these practice sessions over the past year. The girls were alike in many ways, both pretty intense and sharp as a whip. They were also taking the most challenging classes out of everyone in their friend groups. They were dubbed the "mom friends" that kept the others in check and they liked to share fond complaints about their friends' wild antics. She and some other members of the Argo II attended a different school so they only saw each other occasionally. However, Reyna was also close with Jason as they've both gone to the same summer camp since middle school.
Annabeth had just explained the secret admirer situation to her when they arrived at practice. Despite knowing her for a shorter time than the others, Annabeth trusted Reyna as a good person to bounce ideas off of and knew the girl would have the advantage of seeing things from an objective viewpoint.
"You could always ask him for clues to find out who he is," Reyna said, standing up to form the common tree pose and moving her long braid of hair to the side. She was wearing a basic tank top and (literal) yoga pants.
"Hey, Reyna!" Leo yelled across the room, not that he needed to but his hearing probably wasn't that great with the combined music from the speakers and his headphones. "You do know that you look exactly like a stereotypical yoga instructor, right?"
Reyna casually raised a hand to flip him off—making Thalia let out an amused snort and Leo let out an offended, "Rude!"—but kept most of her attention on Annabeth.
"I get that he wants to remain anonymous with his letters, but if he really wants to date you then he'll need to tell you about himself eventually to win you over."
Annabeth hummed in consideration of this, unfolding her leg as she moved out of the pigeon pose and stood up to lean down into a low, left lunge.
"I could do that," Annabeth said, "but I think I'll try my first plan and see if I get any concrete results before using more direct tactics."
"Cool. That way you have a backup plan," Thalia added in agreement as she switched from sit-ups to planks. "So if the romance angle doesn't work," she huffed while getting into position, "you can always just ask him to do it so you can have some idea of what he's like. He can't use the letters to just vent his feelings. He'll have to pluck up the courage and finally," she put significant stress on the word, "ask you out."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her tone, moving out of her lunge and into another pigeon pose, with her left leg bent this time.
"Well, yeah, but it might take some time until he makes any bold moves like that, Thals. He seems to know me, but is still pretty intimidated."
Thalia let out a choked laugh, trying to keep her core tight and maintain her position.
"Oh, you have no idea."
Annabeth frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
Thalia shook her head, lifting out of the plank and walking over to where Leo had set up a mini-fridge by his laptop and speakers, now completely ignoring their "girl talk" with his headphones on. "Nothing, nothing. Never mind me." She drank a few large gulps of Gatorade, effectively sending the message that she wouldn't elaborate any further.
Not that her silence would stop Annabeth from questioning her. However, her train of thought was yanked off the rails as Piper piped up from the barre once more.
"Well, I think either would work, and then we could finally set up our Annie here with a boyfriend." She smiled brightly and bent forward while she smoothly lifted her leg until it stretched up to point at the ceiling, forming a perfect vertical split.
Damn Piper and her flexibility. Annabeth herself could barely do a split, though she was much better at headstands.
Ignoring her flare of envy, Annabeth rolled her eyes at the statement.
"I don't need a boyfriend—"
"—And! I can help you set everything up. You know I can be particularly convincing and flexible when I want to be." She caught Annabeth's gaze in the mirror and winked at the blonde's lighthearted glare at her raised leg.
Annabeth broke eye contact and fondly rolled her eyes once more at Piper's teasing as she stood up from her pigeon pose. "Thanks for the offer, Piper. I'll keep that in mind." Then she bent back into a bridge because while she wasn't good at splits she was flexible too, dammit.
Piper scoffed at the display. "Show off."
"Oh, this? This isn't me showing off."
Annabeth moved from her hands down to her elbows and then bent back into a standing position. With a quick look at Reyna, who was watching the exchange in amusement, Annabeth got down onto her knees with her forearms flat on the mat in front of her at a 90-degree angle. Then she stretched out her legs, keeping her right foot elevated so she could kick off the floor with her left and smoothly lift both her legs into an elbow stand.
Leo whistled, impressed, before letting out an annoyed "Ouch! Why are you girls so mean to me?"
Annabeth couldn't see from her position, but she assumed that Thalia had punched him, as she was wont to do.
However, she wasn't quite done yet. She had been doing these elbow stands for a while now after she saw Reyna do it once and immediately demanded the girl teach her the pose. So she had one more trick up her sleeve.
Annabeth bent her right leg forward a tad more until her foot was pointing right at Piper, truly showcasing the extent of her flexibility and balance.
"This," she said with a smirk at the brunette, "is me showing off."
"Wow, Annabeth." Piper stretched out the "o" as she lowered her leg and turned to look at her taunting friend, unable to hide a smile despite her efforts to seem offended. "Trying to one-up me at my own dance practice?"
Annabeth's steel-gray eyes twinkled with mischief as she now grinned up at Piper. She didn't wobble one bit as she lifted a hand to casually rest her head on her palm. "You know it."
Piper's facade officially broke as she laughed at the girl's antics, "Competitive, much?"
"Not much of a competition if you ask m—"
Their banter was interrupted by a knock at the door. Thalia looked up from her workout, she had left Leo alone to start doing push-ups, and smiled at whoever she saw through the small window in the wood. She stood up and walked over to let the person inside.
Annabeth felt her traitorous heart flutter as Percy walked inside with full hands and a gym bag slung over his shoulder.
A crooked grin lit up his face as Thalia closed the door behind him and he walked further into the room. It looked like he had just come from swim practice, his dripping wet hair and flip flops a dead giveaway. He was wearing an orange Aquaman t-shirt Annabeth had given him for his 15th birthday (though he claimed it reminded him more of Mermaid Man from Spongebob than a DC superhero) and some blue basketball shorts with a little Nemo sewed near the bottom.
It was an incredibly dorky outfit that Annabeth was unashamed to say worked on him when it would have made anyone else look like a kid lost at Sea World. (Well, he still kinda looked like that, but more of a cute and passionate employee than a little kid.)
The door was on Annabeth's left so Percy hadn't seen her when he came in and therefore he lifted a hand that was holding a water bottle to greet only the rest of the dance group and Thalia.
"Hey, guys! I'm here to pick up our resident up-and-coming blond genius"—he held up his other hand which had a tight grip on a heavy bag of McDonald's—"and I've brought food as an offering of goodwill."
Thalia quickly snatched the bag and peered inside, nodding pleased at its contents. "Your offering has been happily received. I will refrain from smiting you." With that, she beelined over to the sole table in the room to tear into the meal, blatantly ignoring Percy and Leo's exclamations of protest, one upset at having his food stolen and one upset at sprite being put dangerously close to his equipment.
Piper raised an eyebrow at Percy. "You know we aren't supposed to eat in here right?" Nonetheless, she thanked him and moved to grab her Southwest salad—bar the chicken—before Thalia consumed the entire bag.
"Oh, and Jason isn't here," Piper remarked, playfully. "He had a study session for a health test with Frank and Hazel at the library."
"Haha, funny. I was talking about the og."
Percy put down his gym bag and raised the water bottle to his mouth to drink and Annabeth took the chance to appraise him while he was still distracted. Those hours after school at the pool had done wonders for his once lanky preteen body. He was now a tall, broad-shouldered, tone-legged Adonis. His playful sea-green eyes and messy, jet black hair only added to his beauty—and that was the only way to describe him because this boy was just so beautiful, truly a work of art, and he didn't even realize it.
Her staring, not ogling, was cut short as Percy's eyes started to scan the room.
Annabeth smiled at him, and called out to get his attention, "I'm over here, Seaweed Brain."
Percy turned to the side and finally caught sight of her...
Before immediately choking on his drink.
He started coughing loud, hacking coughs that made Annabeth's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and her lips pull down in concern. She wobbled a bit in her surprise and put down her hand to regain some balance. Before she could ask if he was okay, Leo beat her to it.
"Hey dude, you good?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, momentarily forgetting about Thalia and her dangerously full cup of soda sitting by his speakers as he walked over to give Percy a few pats on the back.
Percy coughed a few more times, the harsh hacks making his face light up with a cherry red blush as he waved off Leo and beat at his own chest to clear his airways.
"You good, Perce?" Annabeth asked, preparing to bend out of the headstand to offer some aid if need be.
Percy just nodded his head and eventually he rasped out, "Y-yeah"—he cleared his throat—"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." He looked at her before quickly glancing away. Then he started glaring, just slightly, at someone across the room.
Annabeth pursed her lips but let her concern fade away. "Okay then." She tried to follow his line of sight and caught the tail end of Thalia's smirk—why did she look so smug when her cousin was literally choking right in front of her? Did she put something in his water as a prank?—then glanced back at Percy as he glared at his cousin, blush still as vibrant as ever.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Percy reiterated, wiping his mouth a bit with the back of his hand before he briefly looked back at Annabeth then glanced away again. "Just, uh, went down the wrong pipe. Anyway, are you ready to go?"
Annabeth gave a slight nod, though Percy didn't see it as he still wasn't looking directly at her for some reason. "Yeah, I'm about done. Just a sec." She let her legs fall and land into a bridge on her elbows. She then lowered herself fully to the mat and got back up. Once she was standing again, she rolled up her yoga mat and walked over to the table, at which Reyna now sat eating a grilled chicken sandwich.
Annabeth smiled at her briefly before grabbing her gym bag and packing her yoga mat inside. She also took out her hoodie—technically it was Percy's from the swim team but she wore it more than him at this point—and pulled it over her head. She frowned when she didn't see any of her usual orders in the McDonald's bag.
Percy walked over, his blush now much less noticeable, and nudged her side.
"Come on, your food's in the car," he said before walking back over to the door and picking up his gym bag.
"Ah, okay." Annabeth nodded and then wrapped an arm around Reyna's shoulders in a quick hug goodbye. "I'll see you later, yeah?"
Reyna patted her hand, still mostly focused on her food until Annabeth pulled back, slinging her gym bag over her shoulder. Then she looked up at her friend and swallowed her last bite before saying goodbye.
"See you," and more softly with a small encouraging smile, "I hope the plan works out."
Annabeth nearly blushed, aware that her crush was just a few feet away and could easily overhear them.
But it's not like he's my secret admirer anyway.
The thought pained her so she pushed that down, but it effectively helped her stay blush-free when she smiled back at Reyna.
"Me too. I'll let you know how it goes."
With that, she followed Percy to the door, waving goodbye to the rest of the dance group as the two left the room.
Annabeth wiped her hands on her jeans for the third time as she walked toward her locker. She was 90% sure her plan would work… but that was the reason she was so anxious (read: nervous). If everything went as planned, she was finally going to find out who her secret admirer was.
After they had talked, Annabeth had recruited Thalia and Piper's help getting writing samples from everyone in their Physics class. Everyone was pretty accommodating and wished her "sick dog" well—one encouraging glare from Thalia had all of them signing their names, no problem.
Now, a week later, Annabeth was about to complete the last step in the plan and place her letter to this mystery guy in her locker. Hopefully, the secret admirer fulfilled her request of writing handwritten letters.
The school was eerily quiet at this time in the morning. She had come early, skipping out on her usual ride with Percy, to leave her letter before the secret admirer dropped off his. Her footsteps echoed off the vinyl tiles, making the absence of any other sound all the more apparent. The lights were off too; Goode High was a cheap school so the lights were all set up on a timer, turning off after long periods of little to no movement. The glaring fluorescent lights flashed on as she made her way down the main hallway and down the steps.
It was more than a little creepy, but Annabeth tried her best to ignore it as she turned the corner and entered the hallway her locker was in.
Real talk? She was more nervous about how the secret admirer would like her letter. It's silly, yes, and not at all the reason she wrote it, but Annabeth wanted to show her appreciation for this guy's affectionate notes. Regardless of her crush on Percy, it felt nice to know someone liked her to the point of writing love letters. And, let's be honest, Annabeth was completely inexperienced when it came to love. The only crush—real crush, her celebrity crush on Benedict Cumberbatch didn't count—she ever had was on Percy. They've known each other for so long she didn't have the chance to fall for anyone else. So, she's never been in a relationship or had anyone ask her out, until the phone number guy that is.
The point is, this was all new to her and she just wanted it all to go smoothly, even if she has to turn down her secret admirer in the end.
Well, here goes.
She opened up her locker and grabbed the stuff she needed before locking it up again. All of the secret admirer's letters had been stuck in the locker's vent at the top of the door, sticking out just enough to be seen but not enough to easily fall. Annabeth had decided to do the same, to ensure the letter would be seen by her secret admirer when he came to drop off his letter later that day.
She just needed to fold it a few times to make the paper thick and wedge it in there just so—
"You're here early."
Annabeth jumped before whipping around to find the source of the voice. She groaned in annoyance at who she saw, still reeling from the shock.
"Jason!" She swatted his arm, her heart beating rapidly. "Don't sneak up on me like that, geez! It's creepy enough in these hallways. My gods!"
At least he's not Percy. That would have been awkward.
She ignored how her stomach twisted at the thought and turned to fully face her friend.
Jason held up his hands in surrender, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth pulling at the small scar that was the one imperfection of his face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." His face fell a little as he gave her a once over. "You've been pretty distracted lately. You good?"
Annabeth couldn't fault him there. It was very quiet. She should have easily picked out the sound of his approach before he even entered this hallway. All of the secret admirer stuff has taken up a lot of her attention.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she waved off his concern. "I honestly don't know how you surprised me. I should have heard you coming a mile away." She gestured to the end of the hallway. "I guess I've just been stuck in my head lately."
Jason nodded along, turning to his own locker just a couple of doors down from Annabeth's. "Okay, but what are you doing here so early? I thought you always drove with Percy to school, and he'd never willingly show up to school before 8." He quirked an eyebrow. "Did he oversleep again?"
Annabeth smiled at the thought, an image of a hurried freshman year Percy tumbling into class flashing through her mind. "No, he's actually gotten better with that. I just told him to go on without me today because I wanted to get here early."
There was a jarring clang of metal that echoed in the relative silence of the hallway as Jason swung his locker open. "Really? Do you have a meeting or something?" he asked while grabbing some books. "You know I'm here for the SGA meetings."
Annabeth shrugged and felt a little sheepish as she held up her letter, having hidden it behind her back on reflex when Jason startled her.
"Well, uh, I came early to drop this off." She handed him the letter, it felt a little weirder to include Jason in this than it did with Thalia, Piper, and Reyna, but Annabeth still felt like she could confide in him. Despite being her junior, he was one of the most mature people she knew.
Then again, she was friends with Thalia, Leo, and Percy so there wasn't that much competition.
"It's my response to my secret admirer. I thought it was about time I wrote him back, you know?"
Jason pursed his lips and glanced over her writing, "Yeah that makes sense." Then his eyes grew big and glanced between Annabeth and the paper before a look of confusion overtook his face.
"Why are you asking for handwritten letters? Wouldn't that, you know, reveal a bit of the guy's identity?"
Annabeth nodded. "That's the plan. If I can compare his handwriting to that from that letter we got everyone in Physics to sign, then I can figure out who the guy is."
Jason ahhed in understanding, handing the letter back, "So that's why you asked us to sign that weird get well soon card. I was a little sus cause I know you don't have a dog, but you told me to go with it so I did."
"Yeah, I was actually about to put it in my locker." Annabeth turned back around to do just that, pushing the letter in one of the slots until she felt it was well situated but still visible.
"I see… uh, but don't you think you should wait a bit? Before trying to figure out the guy's identity, I mean."
"Oh," She looked down at her hands, rubbing her thumb as she formulated her answer. "Well, I suppose I could. I know they aren't ready for me to know who they are yet, and I can respect that." Her eyes flickered back up.
"It's just, I kinda feel like I'm just leading this guy on, you know? I don't know enough about him to form a strong opinion, let alone develop feelings. Maybe if I knew who he was I could try to bridge the gap and get to know him."
She bit her lip. "I don't know. Do you think it's disrespectful of me to try to figure out his identity?"
Jason rubbed his neck as he thought over her question. His eyes kept flickering around and never really staying still. It seemed like he was suddenly more embarrassed by the topic than she was.
"I can see your point, and I guess it's only natural you want to know who he is. Maybe just don't pressure him to reveal too much. He might chicken out of the whole thing altogether." He finally looked back at her with a small smile on his face that looked a little stiff.
"And no, I don't think you're disrespecting him as long as you keep an open mind about it and don't jump to conclusions if you figure out who it is, yeah?"
Annabeth pursed her lips, a little put off by his odd request and body language but nodded nonetheless. "Okay. Thanks, Jace." She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. The school was starting to fill up, if the rising cacophony of voices was anything to go by, so she needed to get to class. "I'll see you at lunch?"
Jason nodded, shutting his locker with another loud clang as more of a real smile graced his face when he waved goodbye to her retreating figure.
"Yeah, see you. And I, uh, hope everything works out."
You and me both.
And that's the end of the chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it. (FYI, I don't do yoga so if it is completely unrealistic to have a steady conversation while doing the above-mentioned poses let's just pretend it's not, yeah?) I introduce Reyna! Yay! She's going to play a big part in the sequel so I had to put her in here.
Alright, that's all folks! Have a good night/day.
~PJOandHP4Life